Categories
Politics Beat Blog

Objection on Commission Forces Monday Vote on Pipeline-Area Sale

An attempt by the administration of Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris to withdraw the the sale of two tax-defaulted properties from a committee agenda having been foiled by a commissioner’s protest on Wednesday, the Shelby County Commission is set for an up-or-down vote on the item at its public meeting on Monday. 

The import of the vote is that the two properties, both now technically owned by the county, lie squarely within the South Memphis area targeted for construction of the proposed Byhalia Connection oil pipeline.

Volatility is expected from both opponents and proponents of the pipeline at Monday’s meeting.

A moratorium on a sale of the two properties was imposed by the Commission in October at the request of Commissioner Reginald Milton, who now chairs the Commission’s Delinquent Tax committee, the only Commission committee whose votes by state law are not open to all members of Commission as a committee of the whole.

The committee’s four members are Milton, Amber Mills, Willie Brooks, and Mick Wright. Milton and Brooks are Democrats, and Mills and Wright are Republicans. On Wednesday, only Milton and Mills were present, and Mills — on behalf, she said, of fellow Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., whose district overlaps with the area of the two properties in question —  objected to withdrawing the item from the agenda.

The votes of Milton and Mills regarding her objection canceled each other out, resulting in a resolution to sell the two properties moving, without a recommendation for or against, onto the Commission’s Monday agenda for a vote by the full Commission body.

As of now, the sale price of the properties is expected to be $11,363.00, the amount of the unpaid tax liability. 

A companion item on Monday’s agenda, also to be voted on by the full Commission, would eliminate the moratorium on sale of the properties.

Such a sale, presumably to Valero Energy Corporation and Plains All American Pipeline, who intend to build the Byhalia Connection pipeline, is sure to be stoutly resisted by pipeline opponents, who see the proposed structure as detrimental to low-income Blacks in the affected area and as an environmental hazard to the underlying Memphis sand aquifer, source of the Memphis area’s drinking water.

Categories
Calling the Bluff Music

Throwback Thursday: Young Dolph Throws “A Plus Day”

To show his hometown appreciation, Young Dolph threw a free citywide concert last May. 

People from all across the community traveled to South Memphis’ Lincoln Park for “A Plus Day.” The first of its kind, the gathering boasted both high-energy performances and motivational commentary for the youth. 

Swarms of people crowded around a platform inside the park as they rapped along to each track Dolph performed. The promising emcee also brought out a few guests, which included the likes of 8Ball & MJG, Don Trip, Drumma Boy, Starlito, Paul Wall, and Travis Porter.

Other people in attendance for A Plus Day were DJ Squeeky, K97 radio personality Devin Steel, and former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.

Check it out below. 

Throwback Thursday: Young Dolph Throws ‘A Plus Day’

Check out my website
Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook

Categories
News News Blog

South Memphis “Safe House” to Serve as Alternative to Gang Activity

Louis Goggans

Clark ‘Preacha’ Chambers details forthcoming ‘Safe House’ in South Memphis.

An area of South Memphis identified as territory of the Riverside Rollin’ 90’s Crips will soon boast a facility that provides at-risk youth with alternatives to gang activity. 

During a press conference held at the Riverview Community Center today, establishment of the city’s first-ever “Safe House” was announced. 

The nearly 3,000 square-foot building will serve as a resource center for youth. It will boast computer workstations, a music room, reading area, along with meeting and office space. Youth will also be able to receive mentorship and apply for scholarship programs. It’ll reportedly operate 24 hours a day. 

The Safe House will be located on Florida Street, one of the areas included in a “Safety Zone” declared by the Multi-Agency Gang Unit within South Memphis’ Riverside community in September 2013. It’s the first of several safe houses that the Bikers and Social Clubs 4 Change (BSC4C) hope to establish in disadvantaged communities throughout the city. 

“We’re tired of our people dying before they get a chance [to live] and not thinking outside of the box,” said Clark “Preacha” Chambers of BSC4C. “[They’re] thinking they’re bound to the cycles that exist in our communities. With these safe houses, they’ll have the opportunity to think more outside the box and turn away from crime.”

Construction of the Safe House on Florida Street is projected to cost $560,000. BSC4C plans to raise the bulk of that money through private donations, along with its upcoming Memphis Bike Fest. The five-day event takes place July 22nd-26th at Tiger Lane and areas surrounding the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. 

The organization plans to establish additional Safe Houses in the Frayser, New Chicago, Smokey City and Lauderdale Courts communities. 

Read the Memphis Flyer next week for more information on the forthcoming Safe House in South Memphis.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Blight Group Involved in Years-Long Fight with County Over Property Taxes

Gennie Suggs-Smith is “angry as hell,” and she says that’s what keeps her hanging on to the blight remediation group she founded, Census Tract 61 Neighborhood Council, years after losing its South Memphis office in a property dispute with Shelby County.

Now Suggs-Smith believes the county is dragging its feet on giving her a free property from the Shelby County Land Bank to replace the one she lost in a tax dispute.

“A good year has gone by that I’ve been trying to get another property [from the land bank],” Suggs-Smith said.

The trouble began in 2008. The Census Tract 61 group, which was founded in 1986, had been operating out of a house at 1249 Cannon since 2002. There they coordinated efforts to deal with blight in an area just east of Soulsville. They also ran a club for kids, fed meals to needy residents, and organized neighborhood get-togethers for the small area bordered by South Bellevue, South Parkway, Walker, and the BNSF railroad.

Suggs-Smith said she filed for nonprofit status with the IRS and property tax exemption status with the state Board of Equalization (BOE) in 2004. But that didn’t stop tax bills from piling up. The outstanding tax bill on Census Tract 61’s office rose to $11,600.

“I started getting letters about property taxes, but I thought, since we were a tax-exempt organization, sanctioned by the IRS and the state of Tennessee, that they were making a mistake,” Suggs-Smith said. “I didn’t follow up about the taxes though. Since I’d filed all the necessary [nonprofit] paperwork, I didn’t think they were serious.”

But turns out they were. In 2008, Suggs-Smith received a letter from the county letting her know they were serious about taking the property. Although she said she’d filed for tax-exempt status with the state, the county never received confirmation, and at the time, Suggs-Smith didn’t have all the paperwork to prove her status.

“We had a flood in our building and lost a lot of files, but I eventually found a copy of the state stuff and showed it to the courts,” Suggs-Smith said.

Bianca Phillips

Gennie Suggs-Smith and her former office on Cannon

But it was too late to save her office on Cannon. It was sold in a tax sale in 2008.

Suggs-Smith eventually won an appeal to the state BOE in 2012, but although the board ruled Census Tract 61’s tax exemption should have begun in 2004, it also determined such findings “would not likely affect the validity of a tax sale that has otherwise become final.”

According to Greg Gallagher, a delinquent tax attorney with the Shelby County Trustee’s office, the issue was that Suggs-Smith lacked proof of her tax-exempt status at the time of the tax sale.

“Unfortunately, she had already lost ownership of the property by the time the BOE came in and said, ‘Well, we think the property was used as a nonprofit starting in 2004. But you no longer own the property, so we don’t have jurisdiction.’ It was a done deal. It had been sold,” said Debra Gates, chief administrator for the Shelby County Trustee’s office.

Suggs-Smith says she has an agreement with the Shelby County Land Bank to select a new property, but she said she has been turned down for two buildings and is awaiting a response on a third. Meanwhile, without an office, she says Census Tract 61 Neighborhood Council’s membership has dwindled down from about 20 active members to only a handful of people.

“When we lost the building, people stopped coming. There are only a few of us left cutting vacant lots here and there and serving a few meals for the people left in our Meals on Wheels program,” Suggs-Smith said.

As for her old property on Cannon, today, it sits vacant. It was purchased by an investment group in 2008, and Suggs-Smith said renters lived there for awhile. But it’s remained empty for years. A “For Rent” sign hangs in the window.

“Every time I pass by that house I get angry,” Suggs-Smith said. “It’s just sitting there. It’s going to become part of the blight scene.”

Categories
Calling the Bluff Music

Young Dolph Throws “A Plus Day” In South Memphis (Video)

Young Dolph

  • Young Dolph

People from all across the city traveled to South Memphis’ Lincoln Park for Young Dolph’s “A Plus Day.”

The first of its kind, the gathering boasted both high-energy performances and motivational commentary for the youth. The event, which was free of charge, took place Saturday, May 24th.

Swarms of people crowded around a platform inside the park as they rapped along to each track Dolph, one of the city’s latest rap sensations, performed. Dolph also brought out a few guests, which included the likes of 8Ball & MJG, Don Trip, Drumma Boy, Starlito, Paul Wall, and Travis Porter.

Other people in attendance for A Plus Day were DJ Squeeky, K97 radio personality Devin Steel, and former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.

Check out a recap of A Plus Day below.

Follow me on Twitter: @Lou4President
Friend me on Facebook: Louis Goggans
Check out my website: ahumblesoul.com

Categories
Music Music Features

Willie Mitchell Re-launches Record Label

Willie Mitchell, best known as the producer of Al Green’s hits in the 1970s, announced the re-launch of Waylo Records. Not quite the resurrection of Stax many had hoped for, but the 79-year-old Mitchell seems committed to Memphis singers, beginning with Waylo’s first release, Mashaa’s Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere.

Mitchell started Waylo in 1982, and released albums by Otis Clay and Ann Peebles before mothballing the venture about 20 years ago. Mashaa is a longtime Mitchell protégé, dating back to her sessions as a back-up vocalist in the glory days at Mitchell’s South Memphis recording studio.